Aaron Dean, the former Fort Worth police officer convicted of manslaughter last week in the death of Atatiana Jefferson and sentenced Tuesday to nearly 12 years behind bars, has been transferred to a state prison in Huntsville.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Dean is currently being held at the Byrd Unit where he's undergoing "diagnostics."
TDCJ officials confirmed Dean has not yet received a permanent housing assignment and his new mug shot is not yet available.
A Tarrant County jury ordered Dean to spend 11 years, 10 months and 12 days in prison after he fatally shot Jefferson while investigating a non-emergency call at her home on Oct. 12, 2019.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
The case sparked national outrage as evidence of another instance of police violence toward the Black community, this time involving an innocent woman who was within her rights to have a gun in her possession when she was confronted and shot by a white police officer without warning.
Pastor Kenneth Jones, Jr., senior pastor at the Como First Missionary Baptist Church, said he felt the sentence was a step in the right direction in terms of mending relations between the police and certain communities.
"The African American community in a real sense is still on edge when we look at how we are policed in this community. You look at the use of force [reports] that the police department puts out on a monthly basis, African Americans are policed differently than any other ethnic group that’s in this city," Jones said. "When you look at us making up about 18% and you look at those numbers of how we’re policed, it’s incorrigible."
Jones is a member of the Circle of Clergy, is which an interfaith collaboration focused on racial justice and unity. He said he is hopeful Jefferson's story will inspire change.
"I think there is a lot of work that needs to be done with this police department, and its relationships with people of color," he said. "We should be safe in our own homes. What occurred for Atatiana Jefferson should not have occurred. It should never happen again in the city of Fort Worth, in any city."
Dean's attorneys have not commented publicly on the case as of this writing.
